Leap years that begin on Wednesday, like those that start on Tuesday, occur at a rate of approximately 14.4% (14 out of 97) of all total leap years in a 400-year cycle of the Gregorian calendar. Their overall occurrence is thus 3.5% (14 out of 400).

For this kind of year, the corresponding ISO year has 53 weeks, and the ISO week 10 (which begins March 2) and all subsequent ISO weeks occur earlier than in all other years. That means, moveable holidays may occur one calendar week later than otherwise possible.

Like all leap year types, the one starting with 1 January on a Wednesday occurs exactly once in a 28-year cycle in the Julian calendar, i.e. in 3.57% of years. As the Julian calendar repeats after 28 years that means it will also repeat after 700 years, i.e. 25 cycles. The year's position in the cycle is given by the formula ((year + 8) mod 28) + 1).